Hey Everyone! I know it’s been a couple of months since I posted, but what busy months they have been! We had Alumni Weekend, the Junior class trip to Boston, SA Leaf Rake, Week of Prayer with Emmanuel Institute, and SA Ski trip. I can’t wait to tell you all about them!
October was a busy month, with Alumni Weekend, Junior Class trip to Boston, and SA Leaf Rake. We started off October with Alumni Weekend. It was such a blessing and so much fun to visit with our former classmates. It began with vespers on Friday evening, then we had Sabbath School and Church the next morning. On Sabbath afternoon, we had a musical performance where alumni and current students alike sang and played many wonderful songs. Alumni Weekend ended Saturday evening with the Warriors and Lady Warriors basketball games. For the first time in quite a while, both our Warriors and Lady Warriors beat the Alumni teams.
Right after the basketball games ended, my class, the Juniors, loaded the buses to head to Boston. I know we had all been looking forward to our class trip for a while. We drove through the night and arrived in Boston the next evening. We stayed there all week, visiting historic sites such as a replica of the Mayflower, Plymouth Plantation, Plymouth Rock, and the Freedom Trail. We also visited some places that aren’t history related, like an aquarium, science museum, Basketball Hall of Fame, and Niagara Falls. We returned to campus on Friday evening, and the whole school came out to meet us. The senior class, as is their tradition, met us with donuts as we stepped off the buses. Boston definitely lived up to my expectations, and it made me all the more excited for my Senior class trip to D.C. next year.
About a week after we got back from Boston, we had SA Leaf Rake. During SA Leaf Rake, all of the students and staff take a day off from classes and go out and serve our community. This year, we had wonderful weather for leaf rake, and we spent the day raking leaves out in the beautiful sunshine. The students were split into groups, and each group was assigned a couple of houses to rake leaves at. Once we finished all our houses, we headed over to the local cemetery and spent the rest of the afternoon raking up huge piles of leaves there and making it look nice. It was so fun to get out and help serve our community by doing something that was so simple and easy for us, but might not have been for someone else.
As soon as we got back from Christmas Break in January, we had our Winter Week of Prayer with Emmanuel Institute. Instead of our normal week of prayer schedule with shortened classes, we didn’t have classes at all! We spent the day in the chapel where Pastor Howard and Pastor DeVasher, our speakers for the week, taught us how to effectively witness to our community, how important organization is in the church, and about the principles and core doctrines of our beliefs. After lunch, we split into small groups and practiced giving Bible studies to each other. In the evenings, a group of about 40 students went out into the community to talk to our neighbors and offer Bible studies. I was a little scared when I learned that I would have to do this, but it wasn’t scary at all! It was actually kind of fun! By the end of the week, we had 30 members of the community accept Bible studies, and 50 more who accepted the services we offered. Our week with Emmanual institute was truly an incredible experience.
About two weeks ago, we had our annual SA Ski trip. All those who wanted to go woke up early in the morning and drove the two hours to Crystal Mountain. They spent the day there, hanging out with friends and skiing or snowboarding. They had lots of snow this year, and thankfully, no one got hurt. Those who chose not to go got to have a little bit of a more chill day here on campus, with shorter classes and more free time. The next day, we had a sleep-in schedule, which means classes didn’t start until 10! I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that sleep-in schedules are amazing.
Overall it’s been a pretty busy first semester here at GLAA. Second semester will be even busier though, with Aeros and Music tours, SA Elections, Week of Prayer, and Academy Days.
Check back often to hear updates on our life at GLAA. See you soon!
Great Lakes Adventist Academy 